Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-pvkqz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-27T13:31:37.727Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Weights of Evidence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2012

Dale A. Nance
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Interest in the Keynesian concept of evidential weight has led to divergent views concerning the burden of proof in adjudication. It is argued that Keynes's concept is properly engaged only in the context of one special kind of decision, the decision whether or not the evidence is ripe for a decision on the underlying merits, whether the latter decision is based on probability, relative plausibility, coherence or otherwise. As a general matter, this question of ripeness is appropriately assigned to the judiciary for resolution as part of the burden of production, rather than to the jury or other factfinder as part of the burden of persuasion.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Episteme , Volume 5 , Issue 3 , October 2008 , pp. 267 - 281
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Cohen, L. Jonathan. 1977. The Probable and the Provable. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, L. Jonathan. 1985. “Twelve Questions about Keynes's Concept of Weight.” British Journal of the Philosophy of Science 37: 263–78.Google Scholar
Cohen, L. Jonathan. 1986. “The Role of Evidential Weight in Criminal Proof.” Boston University Law Review 66: 635–49.Google Scholar
Cohen, Neil B. 1985. “Confidence in Probability: Burdens of Persuasion in a World of Imperfect Knowledge.” New York University Law Review 60: 385–422.Google Scholar
Cohen, Neil B. 1987. “Conceptualizing Proof and Calculating Probabilities: A Response to Professor Kaye.” Cornell Law Review 73: 78–95.Google Scholar
Friedman, Richard D. 1997. “Dealing with Evidentiary Deficiency.” Cardozo Law Review 18: 1961–86.Google Scholar
Gillies, Donald. 2000. Philosophical Theories of Probability. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Haack, Susan. 1993. Evidence and Inquiry: Towards Reconstruction in Epistemology. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Hacking, Ian. 2001. An Introduction to Probability and Inductive Logic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Josephson, John R. 2001. “On the Proof Dynamics of Inference to the Best Explanation.” Cardozo Law Review 22: 1621–43.Google Scholar
Kaplan, John. 1968. “Decision Theory and the Factfinding Process.” Stanford Law Review 20: 1065–92.Google Scholar
Kaye, David H. 1986. “Do We Need a Calculus of Weight to Understand Proof Beyond a Reasonable Doubt?” Boston University Law Review 66: 657–72.Google Scholar
Kaye, David H. 1987. “Apples and Oranges: Confidence Coefficients and the Burden of Persuasion.” Cornell Law Review 73: 54–77.Google Scholar
Keynes, John Maynard. 1921. A Treatise on Probability. London: Macmillan Press.Google Scholar
Lempert, Richard O. 1977. “Modeling Relevance.” Michigan Law Review 75: 1021–57.Google Scholar
Lillquist, Erik. 2002. “Recasting Reasonable Doubt: Decision Theory and the Virtues of Variability.” U.C. Davis Law Review 36: 85–197.Google Scholar
Nance, Dale A. 1991. “Missing Evidence.” Cardozo Law Review 13: 831–82.Google Scholar
Nance, Dale A. 1998. “Evidential Completeness and the Burden of Proof.” Hastings Law Journal 49: 621–62.Google Scholar
Nance, Dale A. 2005. “Allocating the Risk of Error: Its Role in the Theory of Evidence Law.” Legal Theory 13: 129–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pennington, Nancy & Reid, Hastie. 1991. “A Cognitive Model of Juror Decision Making: The Story Model.” Cardozo Law Review 13: 519–57.Google Scholar
Schum, David A. 1994. Evidential Foundations of Probabilistic Reasoning. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Skyrms, Brian. 1990. The Dynamics of Rational Deliberation. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Stein, Alex. 2005. Foundations of Evidence Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Strong, John W. (gen. ed.) 2006. McCormick on Evidence. 6th ed. Vol. II. St. Paul, Minnesota: West Group.Google Scholar
Walker, Vern R. 1996. “Preponderance, Probability, and Warranted Factfinding.” Brooklyn Law Review 62: 1075–136.Google Scholar